UNHCR Bulgaria : Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks)

Submitted by Anonim on Tue, 12/01/2009 - 14:35

Profile Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, commonly known as Pomaks, are most probably descendants of Bulgarian Christians who converted to Islam during the period of Ottoman rule, while retaining the Bulgarian language as well as certain Orthodox practices. Although precise figures are not available in census data, the minority is estimated at about 160,000-240,000 people, dwelling mainly in the Rhodope Mountains. The authorities do not consider the Pomaks a distinct minority and in the 2001 there was no figure given for them.

Historical context

Bulgarian-speaking Muslims were subjected to forcible conversion in 1912-13 and were the victims of government-led name-changing in the early 1940s. In 1948, the communist authorities initiated programmes aimed at their assimilation, including population transfer to areas of ethnic Bulgarian settlement. Between 1970 and 1973, vigorous attempts were made to oblige Pomaks to abandon their Muslim and Arabic names and adopt Bulgarian ones.

These measures were accompanied by violence and led to many deaths. In the late 1980s Pomaks participated in the mass protests at the name-changing campaign of the communist government. Unlike ethnic Turks, Bulgarian-speaking Muslims were refused permission by the authorities to emigrate to Turkey.

Even after the demise of the communist regime in 1989, Pomaks continued to face governments refusing to recognize their separate identity. Beyond the state, Pomaks remain subject to outside pressure on their identity from a number of different sources including the ethnic Turkish community, and Orthodox and other religious groups proselytizing among them. Some Pomaks, mainly in the eastern Rhodope mountains, have converted to Christianity, mainly by joining the Uniate and Protestant churches.

While those in the central and eastern Rhodope tended to identify with Bulgarians, in the more impoverished and neglected western Rhodope region the situation was different. Here, in the early 1990s a large minority of Pomaks began to militantly identify themselves as Turks. In the 1992 census, 27,000 Bulgarian-speaking Muslims are believed to have identified themselves as Turks, while a further 35,000 are thought to have declared their mother tongue to be Turkish, even though they could not speak the language. This was believed to be due to shared religion as well as economic factors since emigration to Turkey is perceived as one way of overcoming employment difficulties. Thus, in this period it seemed that perhaps as many as a third of the community claimed to be Turkish while a third saw themselves as Bulgarians with the remainder claiming some form of 'Pomak' identity. In the 1992 census 65,000 declared themselves as 'Muslims', 'Pomaks', 'Bulgarian Mohammedans' and the like.

However, the number claiming to be Turks dropped dramatically by the late 1990s to only about five per cent in the western Rhodope while the number seeing themselves as Pomaks – 'Muslims' or 'Mussulman' being the usual form of self-classification – grew to perhaps half the community. Another factor is the drift from town to country. Previously the community remained predominantly village based with only some 20 per cent residing in towns. By the late 1990s this had risen to about 40 per cent and the trend has continued. Pomaks tended not to move to Sofia but rather Plovdiv, Asenovgrad, Pazardzhik and other towns near or in the Rhodope region. Those who move to the towns tend to identify themselves more readily as Bulgarians especially as religious practice tends to decline in urban settings.

When the government formed an important consultative body on minority rights, the National Council on Ethnic and Demographic Questions, in 1997, Pomaks were excluded.

Current issues

There are no Pomaks in the National Assembly, and Pomak political participation remains restricted to the local level.

Upon its accession in January 2007, Bulgaria became the EU member state with the largest percentage of Muslims, comprised overwhelmingly of its Turkish, Pomak, and part of its Roma populations. Despite anti-Muslim agitation by extreme right-wing organizations, the Bulgarian government has displayed a track record of religious tolerance. Its ongoing refusal to recognize Pomaks as a distinct group remains grounded in insistence on Slavic ethnic homogeneity as Bulgarians.

"Its ongoing refusal to recognize Pomaks as a distinct group remains grounded in insistence on Slavic ethnic homogeneity as Bulgarians."
Pomaks are not homogeneous with the rest of Bulgarians! Simply because they speak Bulgarian does not mean that they are of the same ethnic and cultural origin as the majority of Bulgarians! Pomaks speak their own dialect, have their own cultural background and traditions, and as such they have the right of being recognized as a distinct group.

Complete nonsense the Pomak were Muslim long before the Ottomans arrived to the Balkans. Is there a way to stop the Bulgarian propaganda machine? When the Pomaks inhabited the Rhodopes the Slavs were very far from Bulgaria and were yet to migrate to those areas.

You are talking complete nonsense. The Bulgarians came to this territory long before the Islam was 'created' by Muhamad in the first half of the 7th century AD. The Slavs inhabited Bulgaria since the end of the 5th century. The religion of both tribes (Bulgarians and Slavs) was pagan until th 9th century AD when Bulgaria converted to Christianity. The first muslims in Bulgaria date from the 15th century AD. All these facts are indisputable and easily checkable.

Complete nonsense the Pomak were Muslim long before the Ottomans arrived to the Balkans. Is there a way to stop the Bulgarian propaganda machine? When the Pomaks inhabited the Rhodopes the Slavs were very far from Bulgaria and were yet to migrate to those areas.
It is complete nonsense, that Pomaks were Muslim long before the Ottomans arrived to the Balkans.
First of all, the name "Pomak" become since 1880 year, not before or soon after Ottomans invasia.
The second, there is so many documents, ottomans including, (click here for example: http://www.edliny.com/smf/index.php?topic=364.0) who very detailly describe the process of islamization on the Balkans. Were is absolutely clear, that this was a slow, very offenly forsed process, as a result of Central Ottoman Policy to convert Balkan people in to islam on quantity, that Ottoman autority feel comfort for him selfe, because of security reasons.
And, the third: if you talk about "Slavs", please, try to explain the following questions:
- Who are Slavs and who from the ancient chronists first was mentioned or presence of Slavs people (exactly with this name): in which year, in wich chronic?
- Who are Thraks, and do they are something different from Ancient Bulgarians? Ancient chronists believe, that those are the same people. Click here for details: http://www.edliny.com/smf/index.php?topic=37.0
- Who are ancient Biulgarians, and do they come to the Balkan's peninsula with Asparukh firstly, or they come a senturies earlier, or they was on the Balkans since milleniums? Click here for details: http://www.edliny.com/smf/index.php?topic=37.msg203#msg203
Try to give a answer to these questions, and with good sources, prouvs and narrated sources prefferably, and your theory, that Pomaks was muslims even before Ottomans invasion, will dissapear.

Well there are many documents and academical research from porminent sources stating that forced Islamization has not been evident during the Ottoman Empire, to the contrary most monesteries and churches were actually build in Bulgarian during Ottoman Turkish rule. The Ottoman Millet based system allowed freedom of religon and wide freedoms for it subjects with the main prerequisite being that taxes are paid on time. Adoption of Islam for personal benefit or other reasons has been voluntary and in Bulgaria involed mainly the higher nobility class (matter of convinience).
Islamic missionaries were active in Bulgaria already durig the 9th century, also mentioned in a letter by the Pope at that time. Pomak is a reference to a ethnic group inhabiting the area of the Rhodopes for a millenia...the origin of the Pomaks has been investigated down to DNA level and are quite far from the current ethnic Bulgarian population. And no the Pomaks did not sell their religion and kept their language and No the Gagauz did not sell their language and kept their religion (Buglarian mumbo jumbo ala State Security historical department)
BTW Proto-Bulgarians have not left much traces on the current Bulgarian population, who are completely Slavisized with no cultural or linguistic links to the Turkic Proto-Bulgarians. Thracians are Bulgarian? no wonder Bulgarian history is such a mess, you write it as you go.